Online Readers vs. Real life Readers Fight Fight Fight!!!

For the past few days, I’ve been talking to some of my fellow writers about online readers vs. real life readers. This led me to ask the question, “What are the major differences between online reads and real life readers?” I tried to do some research on this topic, but I couldn’t find any good articles about it.

Warning, these are based on my own observations. Please add your opinion. It will help gather data and perspective. So, here we go!

If you write online, then you know how important an audience (your readers) is. Most writers who write online hope to turn their views into book sells in the future. However, is that truly possible? Do people who read stories online for free want the same in a published book? Well, this is what I’ve noticed about Online Readers and Real Life readers. Ready! Fight! Go! (Feel free to add your comments).

Online Readers vs. Real Life Readers!

I’ve noticed that online readers prefer short chapters, usually around 1.5K to 2K words. Now, not all online readers are like that, but the majority.

I’ve noticed real life readers don’t mind long chapters, as long as it’s interesting and provides information to the story.

Reason: More than likely, online readers like short chapters because they read on the go. They don’t want to read something complicated – quick and easy is all they want. If your chapters are too short, they suffer from lack of character development and your world won’t be fully developed. Well, unless you write a long book online. I’ve seen some 70-200 Chapter online stories. We know most, if not all publishers would never accept that.

Quality Stories – Real Life readers!

Real life readers want quality stories. This is probably due to the fact they are paying for their books. Not only do they want quality stories, but they also want something that makes them think.

Online readers don’t tend to care about quality – they just want a simple read. I know not all online readers are like this, but this could be due to a lot of readers online are younger and don’t know quality work, yet.

Free stories – Both!

Who doesn’t like a free story? I’ve noticed both sets of readers will take free books. However, real life readers are more likely to complain about a poorly written, free story.

Clichés! – Online Readers more so than Real Life readers

This one is hard to say. Clichés sell, every writer knows that. However, online readers may like clichés more. It’s easier to find a story with a simple premise and theme on the go than something complex.

This post is getting long, so I’ll sum up my findings. And please, everyone who read this please add your thoughts to this discussion.

Overall Conclusion (Online Readers):

Online readers don’t care much about quality; they just want a good plot. A lot of this could be because they are younger readers, or they are more forgiving of grammar errors.

Online readers want writers who can update fast. More than likely, if you have outside responsibilities, you can’t do this.

They want something unique, and yet cliché I know this one is strange, but I’m serious.

They want free stories and something quick to read.

They don’t care about quality as long as the story is interesting.

Overall Conclusion (Real Life Readers):

Want quality books – no errors!

Want a unique story with maybe a few clichés

Developed characters and world – they want to lose themselves in the stories

Will pay for a good book

They are willing to wait for the next book in a series – no rushing decent quality

So, does this translate to book sells if you publish your stories online first?

The answer is,it depends!!!

Of course, everyone is different. Some readers online will buy a published author’s books, but some will just move on to the next free story. However, I firmly believe online readers don’t care about quality like real life readers do. If you are reading on the go, you want something short and to the point. Think about it, now. On WordPress, people like reading short blog posts, don’t they?

This is a discussion post, so please post your findings! Remember! This isn’t about fanfiction. Fanfiction to me is a whole different game. Fanfiction readers do want quality stories. I feel this is because the world and characters are already defined, so there is an established standard to live up to.

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Wow, you got it spot on! At least for me, I go online for quick reads. I want something that I can finish in 5 minutes or less. I do care about quality though. If I see bad grammar in the first paragraph, I’ll stop reading and move on.

I think you’re right. But given the right platforms, you sort of dictate the kind of audience you’ll find. So, wattpad is the teens looking for the easy reads and free too. But WordPress is probably a more rounded group, and quality probably needs to be a bit better. An indie book, free or not, will probably be a little under the radar, since some readers are still a little leery of indie, they like bestselling authors. Plus, libraries come in handy, if cost is a factor. So there’s lots of different things at play here. 😊

Thanks for commenting! I agree with you about finding the right platform. I also feel that’s another thing writers online need to take into consideration. Depending on the type of book their writing and audience, certain platforms may not work for them. However, I found the worst platforms are getting the most traffic.

WordPress is definitely higher end on the online writing spectrum. I also agree with you about indie books.

You are right (in most cases) online reader prefer shorter posts. They do tend to care less about grammatical errors and they want something (generally) not as complex or in depth.

Then again there are exceptions to that rule. I strongly believe though, if you want to sell a book online or otherwise, you simply don’t post any of it online, unless you are e-publishing and maybe you give them a chapter preview.

I think if you find the right platform, and fans it is possible for souls to still be willing to buy something in print they could read for free, but you aren’t going to make a living doing so if that is your aim. Xp

Yeahhhh I already broke that rule; however, I don’t plan to post my future books online. It’s interesting, really. The more “dedicated” writers I met, the more I learn they rarely post their work online.

Great post and solid analysis of the different types of readers. Just an observation, I’ve noticed how the most popular blogs on WordPress are usually of 2 types:
– The ones who post regularly/daily, with short and easy-to-read (under 1 minute) posts.
– The ones who write semi-regularly, with long and detailed posts, usually containing humor, entertainment, information or something extremely personal about the author.

In either case, there’s almost always something of high quality material in the writing, along with the understanding that the blogger has an interesting or marketable personality. Just some food for thought.

I’ve noticed that too. The blogger either post every day or at least 1-2 times a week. It’s funny you should say that. My followers went up when I started posting funny gifs to go along with writer problems. After that, I was getting at least 5-10 followers a week. It seems I’m averaging about 100 followers a month, which blows my mind!

Yes, a marketable personality definitely sells on WordPress. It reminds me of the post I did on marketing. A book I read on writing mentioned that you need to have a likable personality. That seems so true on WordPress. It’s amazing what we can learn by studying what’s around us.

Great post! I notice when I read online that I would end up the stories with short chapters as well, but that is also because my concentration for online reading doesn’t make it possible for me to read longer chapters. I do search for a good read and good quality.

I think much of this is due to how difficult it is to sell a book when compared to other genres of entertainment. Because a good book usually takes a while to take off it’s probably the hardest form of storytelling to get immediately engrossed in, it requires patience! And let’s just say that people on the internet are not known for their patience…

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